nebworth yet.

Mary and Georgina send you their kind regard, and hope that the delight
of coming to see you is only deferred.

Fitzgerald will be so proud of your opinion of his "Mrs. Tillotson," and
will (I know) derive such great encouragement from it that I have
faithfully quoted it, word for word, and sent it on to him in Ireland.
He is a very clever fellow (you may remember, perhaps, that I brought
him to Knebworth on the Guild day) and has charming sisters and an
excellent position.

Ever affectionately yours.

[Sidenote: Mr. Rusden.[80]]

_September, 1866._

MY DEAR SIR,

Again I have to thank you very heartily for your kindness in writing to
me about my son. The intelligence you send me concerning him is a great
relief and satisfaction to my mind, and I cannot separate those
feelings from a truly grateful recognition of the advice and assistance
for which he is much beholden to you, or from his strong desire to
deserve your good opinion.

Believe me always, my dear sir,
Your faithful and truly obliged.

[Sidenote: Anonymous.]

GAD'S HILL, _Thursday, 27th December, 1866._

DEAR MADAM,[81]

You make an absurd, though common mistake, in supposing that any human
creature can help you to be an authoress, if you cannot become one in
virtue of your own powers. I know nothing about "impenetrable barrier,"
"outsiders," and "charmed circles." I know that anyone who can write
what is suitable to the requirements of my own journal--for instance--is
a person I am heartily glad to discover, and do not very often find. And
I believe this to be no rare case in periodical literature. I cannot
undertake to advise you in the abstract, as I number my unknown
correspondents by the hundred. But if you offer anything to me for
insertion in "All the Year Round," you may be sure that it will be
honestly read, and that it will be judged by no test but its own merits
and adaptability to those pages.

But I am bound to add that I do not regard successful fiction as a thing
to be achieved in "leisure moments."

Faithfully yours.

FOOTNOTES:

[78] The honorary secretary of the St. George Club, Manchester.

[79] Robert Browning, the Poet, a dear and valued friend.

[80] Mr. Rusden was, at